Law Commons^™

Judge William E. Smith: Portrait Of A Jurist And Leader, Gregory W. Bowman

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Changemakers: Steven Colantuono: Juris Doctorate: Embracing The Road To Success, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

What Lawyers Could Learn From The Corporate Practice Of Medicine, Melissa D. Mortazavi

Faculty Articles

Proponents of the United States’ domestic experiments in non-lawyer ownership (NLO) of legal practice justify them in terms of increasing “access to justice.” But what if opening ownership of legal practice to investment capital only exacerbates market failures (leading to further consolidation and increased costs to clients), while also compromising professional autonomy and fiduciary duty? The legal profession must be clear-eyed about who are the real winners and losers of such a shift and avoid being blinded by wishful thinking. Prominent legal scholars have repeatedly touted NLO as a solution to the access to justice crisis. However, there is scant …

Promise And Pitfalls Of Ai In Mass Arbitration, Amy J. Schmitz

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Mass arbitration has emerged as a strategic response to arbitration clauses that preclude class actions, allowing large numbers of claimants to bring individual arbitration demands against companies for similar grievances. Unlike class actions where a lead claimant represents others, mass arbitration requires each claimant’s active participation in separate proceedings, creating significant administrative burdens and costs. Following a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that solidified mandatory individual arbitration clauses, consumers and employees increasingly turned to mass arbitration filings. While the American Arbitration Association’s rule updates aimed to improve efficiency through measures like one-time initiation fees and process arbitrators, challenges remain in managing …

The Perverse Effects Of Mandatory Judicial Reporting To Bar Authorities Of Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Determinations, Tigran W. Eldred, David M. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

California Business & Professions Code § 6086.7(a)(2) provides that a court shall notify the State Bar “[w]henever a modification or reversal of a judgment in a judicial proceeding is based in whole or in part on the misconduct, incompetent representation, or willful misrepresentation of an attorney.” Some California judges now interpret this provision as mandating referral to the State Bar in any case in which a new trial or withdrawal of a plea is granted due to ineffective assistance of counsel. This interpretation directly conflicts with an attorney’s continuing duty to her former client. It is unnecessary and has profoundly …

Scientific Educations Among U.S. Judges, Christa J. Laser

American University Law Review

Should more judges have technical and scientific educations than are currently prevalent in the federal judiciary? This empirical study of the educational background of federal judges reports the undergraduate and graduate majors of active U.S. federal Article III judges. Information on the subject area of study is largely not publicly available, especially for judges appointed decades ago. This is the first and only publicly available research study of the subject areas of study of U.S. judges, collected via phone and email surveys to U.S. judges. The results of this study show that only 7.35% of federal judges have majors in …

The Motherhood Myth, Traditional Firms, And The Underrepresentation Of Women, Paula Schaefer

FIU Law Review

This Article explains that the motherhood narrative—that women are underrepresented in partnership and leadership ranks of law firms because they are their children’s primary caregivers—is a myth. After detailing how the motherhood myth has been used as an excuse for poor retention of women, the Article provides evidence of an alternative explanation: traditional firms—characterized by extreme work expectations and reliance on the unpaid labor of attorneys’ stay-at-home spouses or partners (SAHSs)—are structurally and culturally hostile to women. To thrive in a traditional firm, an attorney needs a SAHS—not just an equal parenting partner as the motherhood myth claims. Traditional firms’ …

Bar Examination: A Verb, Not A Noun, Marsha Griggs

All Faculty Scholarship

The legal profession, long steeped in tradition, is witnessing a transformative shift in the protocols for licensing new attorneys. Multiple jurisdictions are moving away from reliance on standardized testing as the sole gateway to law practice and are developing individualized (and potentially reciprocal) systems of state licensure. Ironically, the planned launch of a new standardized exam—the NextGen bar exam—appears to be a major catalyst in the transformation of state licensure pathways. This shift has the potential to realign the regulatory hierarchy in attorney admission. Such a realignment is vital to the preservation of lawyer self-governance, and it offers great promise …

Integrating Academic Success, Krishnee Coley, Laura A. Webb

Law Faculty Publications

Over the past few years, Richmond Law has taken several intentional steps to address one of ASP’s perennial challenges: the students who most need help may not be the ones who find their way to optional ASP sessions. By integrating academic success into orientation programs and collaborating with doctrinal professors, we’ve succeeded in reaching all our 1L students despite the lack of a mandatory 1L ASP course.

Prosecutorial Reform And The Myth Of Individualized Enforcement, Justin Murray

Articles & Chapters

The American prosecutor’s legitimacy faces unprecedented challenges. A new wave of reformist prosecutors has risen to power promising to transform the criminal justice system from within, sparking fierce backlash from defenders of the prosecutorial status quo. Central to this conflict is a debate over the nature of prosecutorial discretion, influenced by a set of claims and assumptions that this Article terms the myth of individualized enforcement. This myth posits that prosecutors base discretionary decisions on case-specific facts and equitable circumstances rather than generalizable criteria or categorical nonenforcement practices, such as the policies some reformist prosecutors have adopted that disfavor prosecuting …

The Systematic Devaluation Of Legal Scholarship In Criminology And Criminal Justice, Henry F. Fradella

Touro Law Review

Certain bibliometrics have become important indicators of scholarly impact despite their many weaknesses. This Article presents data demonstrating the shortcomings of using citation counts and journal impact factors for law-based scholarship. Moreover, the Article argues that reliance on these flawed metrics is just one example of how scholars in criminology and criminal justice (“CCJ”) systematically devalue legal scholarship.

The Article begins by offering quotations from social scientists that provide insights into the negative ways they view legal scholars and their work. It also quotes from interviews conducted with CCJ scholars who hold a law degree and either earned or are …

Should Clients Have A Right To Know What Their Lawyer Believes?, Melissa D. Mortazavi

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Even If You’Ve Adopted The Nextgen Ube, Your Work Isn’T Done Yet, Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus

Touro Law Review

The National Conference of Bar Examiners (“NCBE”) is set to administer the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination’s (“UBE”) first release in July 2026. The exam questions are well-structured, well written, and require examinees to understand how the law operates and think like an attorney when faced with a particular problem. This was a primary objective for the NextGen UBE, and it has been met. However, jurisdictions that have adopted the NextGen UBE or are contemplating its adoption still have work to do to ensure that their objectives for a fair test modality and assessment of a lawyer’s basic skill of writing …

The Ironically Important Role Of Incidental Take Authorizations In Whale Conservation, Alexander Carbaugh-Rutland, Jessica Owley, Kenneth Broad

Articles

The late 1970s and early '80s saw a regime shift in wildlife protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). That shift may be impeding the recovery of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoise species) in ways that are yet underexplored. As enacted, the MMPA and ESA established a conservation framework designed to reduce, to the fullest extent possible, "takes" of protected species. Between 1978 and 1982, a series of amendments to both statutes introduced a complex web of incidental take authorizations designed to ensure Congress' initial push for wildlife conservation would not impede economic …

The Legacy Of Ferguson: Building Worker, Community, And Student Power To Respond To The Carceral State, Donna Coker, Melody Sinckler, Kira Mikes

Articles

The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri sparked national outrage regarding police violence in Black communities. But as time passed, Ferguson came to symbolize more than another episode of law enforcement violence. A Department of Justice (DOJ) report revealed that Ferguson's city coffers relied on an intentionally extractive criminal legal system that aggressively levied fines and fees in a racially discriminatory manner. As the DOJ findings illustrate, advocates seeking to transform or abolish the criminal legal system must rigorously analyze the political economy of the carceral system in their locale.

We describe a law school course aimed at …

I Hate Self-Care: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’S Lament, Abbe Smith

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Don’t get me wrong—I think people should take care of themselves. They should eat well, exercise regularly, and get a good night’s sleep. They should spend time with friends and family. They should have hobbies and interests. With any luck, they should find true love. But in the past decade or two, and especially since the COVID pandemic, there has been a disturbing turn inward. I’m talking about the “self-care” craze, which has become its own pandemic, or at least epidemic.

…

In this Essay, I share my concerns about what I regard to be an excessive focus on self-care …

Law, Conflict, And Hybrid Warfare: A Teaching Imperative For A Changing World, Cynthia Alkon, Andrea K. Schneider

Articles

Lawyers increasingly find themselves at the frontlines of the battlefield, just not in the traditional sense. Hybrid warfare is a conflict form that combines traditional military offensive measures with nontraditional methods, including the harnessing of legal systems to achieve strategic goals. Lawyers have always been at the frontline of typical legal risk assessment, thinking about a client's risk of liability or regulation costs generally. Now, lawyers must stand at the ready for a lot more: lawyers must be prepared for cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns using artificial intelligence, the use of court systems to suppress reporting or shield bad actors, and so …

When The “Attorney Work Product” Is A New Baby: The Case For Parental-Leave Continuance Rules, Michelle Browning Coughlin

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Parental-Leave Continuance Rules (PLCRs) are gender-neutral procedural rules that provide specific frameworks to courts for granting requests for a continuance of a scheduled legal proceeding or deadline if a necessary counsel is unavailable because they or their parenting partner will be experiencing a birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child. Existing laws protecting parental leave in the United States are tied to employment; and since courts are not generally the employers of attorneys appearing before them, they are not obligated to honor an attorney’s parental leave when scheduling a trial or other legal proceeding. While continuances are granted in …

The Jury Does Not Always Need Help From Lay Opinion Witnesses, Taurus Myhand

Scholarly Works

Who is the “reasonable person”? There is little doubt that every competent legal professional, both in law practice and in the academic setting, has spent a great deal of time attempting to define the reasonable person. “Reasonableness is largely a matter of common sense.” In police encounters, the definition is certainly important to the outcome of questionable police conduct. How the reasonable person is defined often determines whether a police officer has infringed on an individual’s Fourth Amendment guarantee to be secure in their person against unreasonable searches and seizures. As the narratives of the news media shape how some …

Current Higher Education Legal Issues And The Roles Of Legal Leadership On Campus, Louis H. Guard, Joyce P. Jacobsen, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Prosecutor Vacancy Crisis, Adam M. Gershowitz

BYU Law Review

There is a prosecutor vacancy crisis in the United States. Prosecutors are quitting in droves and there are few applicants to replace them. In Houston and Los Angeles, more than 15% of prosecutor positions are open. In Detroit, the vacancy rate exceeds 20%. In Alameda, 25% of prosecutor positions are empty. And in Miami, a staggering 33% of prosecutor positions are unfilled. The situation is equally dire in many large and small counties across the nation.

Drawing on data and interviews from more than two-dozen district attorney’s offices, this Article documents how low salaries, massive caseloads, lack of remote work …

Kedudukan Surat Keterangan Riwayat Tanah (Skt) Sebagai Alas Hak Kepemilikan Dan Penguasaan Tanah Yang Dikeluarkan Pada Saat Status Sengketa (Studi Putusan Mahkamahagung Nomor 1606 K/Pdt/2022), Helena Albright T Sitompul

Indonesian Notary

Artikel ini membahas mengenai kedudukan Surat Keterangan Riwayat Tanah (SKT) yang dijadikan sebagai bukti kepemilikan dan bukti hak dalam melakukan penguasaan atas tanah yang menjadi objek sengketa dalam Putusan Mahkamah Agung Nomor 1606/K/Pdt/2022. Pokok permasalahan dalam artikel ini adalah perihal SKT yang menjadi alas hak dalam menguasai tanah, ternyata dikeluarkan pada saat telah terjadi sengketa diatasnya. Penulisan artikel ini dilakukan denganmetode penelitian hukum doktrinal dengan tipologi penelitian preskriptif analisis, jenis data berupa data sekunder, dengan alat pengumpulan studi dokumen, serta analisis dilakukan secara kualitatif. Hasil peneliDan menunjukkan, bahwa SKT bukanlah bukti kepemilikan atas tanah, dan apabila merujuk pada Pasal 97 …

Perjanjian Kawin Yang Dibuat Di Hadapan Notaris Namun Tidak Didaftarkan Ke Dukcapil Terkait Dengan Pihak Ketiga (Studi Putusan Pengadilan Tinggi Semarang Nomor 50/Pdt/2021/Pt Smg), Chantiqa Dwi Ayudhia C

Indonesian Notary

Perjanjian Kawin yang dibuat pada saat atau sebelum perkawinan oleh calon pasangan suami istri mulai berlaku sejak perkawinan dilangsungkan dan disahkan pegawai pencatat perkawinan sebagaimana diatur dalam Pasal 29 ayat 1 UU Perkawinan Tahun 1974. Pendaftaran tersebut dimaksudkan sebagai bentuk pemenuhan syarat publisitas agar pihak ketiga dapat tunduk ke dalam isi perjanjian kawin yang dibuat. Penelitian ini menganalisis terkait Akta Perjanjian Kawin yang dijadikan dasar seorang istri melakukan perbuatan jual beli sepihak tanpa sepengetahuan dan tanpa persetujuan suaminya terhadap aset SHM 2233/Rejosari yang diperoleh sepanjang perkawinan kepada pihak ketiga dalam kasus Putusan Pengadilan Tinggi Semarang nomor 50/PDT/2021/PT Smg namun faktanya …

Analisis Pelampauan Jangka Waktu Perjanjian Sewa Menyewa Yang Dibuat Berdasarkan Perjanjian Bangun Guna Serah Sebagai Bentuk Pemanfaatan Aset Daerah, Syafa Nissa Amanda

Indonesian Notary

Perjanjian sekunder atau perjanjian yang dibuat berdasarkan perjanjian induk atau utama harus sejalan dan tidak bertentangan satu sama lain. Suatu perjanjian dikatakan sah apabila memenuhi syarat sah perjanjian yang tertuang dalam Pasal 1320 Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Perdata (“KUHPerdata”). Penelitian ini membahas mengenai bagaimana pengaturan dan penerapan perjanjian kerjasama Bangun Guna Serah dan juga membahas bagaimana kedudukan perjanjian sewa menyewa yang dibuat berdasarkan perjanjian Kerjasama Bangun Guna Serah. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penilitian doktrinal, dengan tipe penelitian eksplanatoris. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang dilakukan, didapatkan simpulan bahwa ketentuan pelaksanaan Bangun Guna Serah atas aset milik pemerintah daerah telah diatur di beberapa ketentuan …

Penerapan Pp No. 35 Tahun 2023 Mengenai Kewajiban Yang Dilematis Bagi Notaris Melaporkan Perjanjian Pengikatan Jual Beli Kepada Badan Pendapatan Daerah, Saarah Faadhilah

Indonesian Notary

Peraturan Pemerintah No. 35 Tahun 2023 tentang Ketentuan Umum Pajak Daerah dan Retribusi Daerah Pasal 60 ayat (1) huruf b PP No. 35 tahun 2023 tersebut, notaris wajib untuk melaporkan perjanjian pengikatan jual beli kepada Kepala Daerah, namun, pada pelaksanaannya dalam Pasal 16 ayat (1) huruf f Undang-Undang Jabatan Notaris notaris wajib untuk menjaga kerahasiaan isi akta. Hal tersebut, menimbulkan adanya disharmonisasi hukum. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bentuk penerapan Peraturan Pemerintah No. 35 tahun 2023 tentang Ketentuan Umum Pajak Daerah dan Retribusi Daerah terhadap kewajiban pelaporan Perjanjian Pengikatan Jual kepada Badan Pendapatan Daerah karena terdapat konsekuensi yang diterima notaris …

Tanggung Jawab Pejabat Pembuat Akta Tanah Yang Tidak Menindaklanjuti Pembuatan Akta Pemberian Hak Tanggungan (Studi Putusan Pengadilan Negeri Denpasar Nomor 1097/Pdt.G/2020/Pn.Dps), Shanea Gabrielle

Indonesian Notary

Penyaluran dana pinjaman yang dilakukan oleh Perusahaan Pembiayaan Sekunder Perumahan (PPSP) kepada debitor harus disertai dengan jaminan berupa tanah dan bangunan yang telah diikat dengan Hak Tanggungan sebagaimana ketentuan dalam Pasal 11 ayat (2) huruf c angka 1 Peraturan Otoritas Jasa Keuangan Nomor 12/POJK.05/2022 Tahun 2022 tentang Perusahaan Pembiayaan Sekunder Perumahan. Hal tersebut dimaksudkan sebagai tindakan mitigasi risiko bagi PPSP untuk mencegah timbulnya kemacetan pembayaran pinjaman oleh debitor yang semestinya dengan didasarkan oleh iktikad baik. Melalui Akta Pemberian Hak Tanggungan (APHT), PPSP sebagai penyalur pinjaman semestinya mendapatkan kepastian hukum akan adanya jaminan Hak Tanggungan untuk dapat dilakukannya pelelangan atas tanah …

Kepastian Hukum Sertifikat Hak Milik Atas Tanah Bekas Hak Milik Adat Yang Penguasaaannya Diklaim Oleh Subjek Hukum Lain (Studi Putusan Mahkamah Agung Nomor 1012 K/Pdt/2023), Ilma Zhafirah Albar

Indonesian Notary

Sertifikat Hak Milik yang diterbitkan oleh Kantor Pertanahan setempat sudah sepatutnya dianggap sebagai alat pembuktian berkekuatan hukum kuat sebagaimana yang ditentukan dalam Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1960 tentang Peraturan Dasar Pokok-pokok Agraria (“UUPA”), serta dalam Peraturan Pemerintah mengenai Pendaftaran Tanah. Permasalahan yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini mengenai ketentuan hukum dalam penyertifikatan tanah bekas hak milik adat yang diperoleh melalui pewarisan dan analisis terhadap pertimbangan hakim dalam putusan tersebut terkait status kepemilikan tanah bekas hak milik adat yang telah disertifikatkan dengan Sertifikat Hak Milik. Penelitian ini berupa penelitian doktrinal dengan tipologi penelitain preskriptif berdasarkan data primer dan sekunder yang dianalisis secara …

Ketidaktepatan Pertimbangan Hukum Majelis Hakim Dalam Membatalkan Surat Keterangan Waris Yang Dibuat Notaris (Studi Putusan Pengadilan Negeri Surabaya Nomor 204/Pdt.G/2023/Pn Sby), Muchammad Kawtsar

Indonesian Notary

Penelitian dilakukan dengan maksud menganalisis ketidaktepatan pertimbangan hukum majelis hakim dalam membatalkan SKW yang dibuat notaris. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian hukum doktrinal yang memaparkan masalah secara eksplanatoris untuk mengumpulkan data sekunder berupa bahan-bahan hukum melalui studi dokumen. Bahan-bahan yang telah dikumpulkan selanjutnya dianalisis secara kualitatif. Hasil analisis menjelaskan bahwa sebelum penghapusan penggolongan penduduk, masyarakat membuat SKW kepada lembaga-lembaga penerbit seperti lurah/camat, notaris, dan BHP sesuai golongan mereka. Selepas dihapuskan, maka masyarakat bebas hendak membuat SKW di lembaga manapun. Adapun pembatalan SKW yang dibuat notaris oleh majelis hakim berdasarkan pertimbangan hukum dalam Putusan Pengadilan Negeri Surabaya Nomor 204/Pdt.G/2023/PN Sby adalah tidak …

Kedudukan Izin Alokasi Lahan Otorita Batam (Studi Putusan Nomor 12/G/2020/Ptun.Tpi), Hanna Sonia L. Sihotang

Indonesian Notary

Otorita Batam sebagai pihak yang memperoleh hak pengelolaan berdasarkan Keputusan Presiden tetap wajib untuk mendaftarkan hak pengelolaannya pada Kantor Pertanahan Kota Batam yang kemudian menghasilkan Sertipikat Hak Pengelolaan sebagai bukti sah kepemilikan atas tanahnya. Sertipikat ini yang kemudian memberikan wewenang kepada Otorita Batam untuk merencanakan peruntukan dan penggunaan tanah, menyerahkan bagian-bagian dari tanah tersebut kepada pihak ketiga serta menerima uang pemasukan/ganti rugi dan uang wajib tahunan. Permasalahan dalam analisa ini mengenai kedudukan izin alokasi lahan yang diberikan oleh Otorita Batam dan status Sertipikat Hak Guna Bangunan oleh Kantor Pertanahan Kota Batam melalui program Pendaftaran Tanah Sistematis Lengkap dalam Putusan Pengadilan …

Reply Brief For Plaintiff-Appellant Brandon Velez, Stephen T. Martin, Seth J. Hipple, Madeline H. Meth

Faculty Scholarship

Defendants don’t want to face the evidence, including video footage, that shows them escalating a traffic stop in front of Velez’s home to a forceful arrest because Velez exercised his First Amendment rights. So, instead of dealing with the record directly, Defendants rely entirely on the district court’s (improper) view of the record, which on appeal from that court’s grant of summary judgment is subject to this Court’s de novo review. Besides ignoring the evidence that favors Velez, Defendants leave unaddressed this Court’s key cases, citing only precedent in which officers confronted wildly different circumstances from those presented here.

When …